Nov. 12, 2011

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - For the last few years, Illinois has been known for its defensive effort, keeping the ball in play and winning the long rally, however, the coaching staff has emphasized that in order to compete with the elite teams in the country and have a shot at making it to the national semifinals, the team would also have to terminate quickly and attack at a high level. The Illini fans got a glimpse of the offensive side this weekend at Huff Hall in a pair of victories over Penn State and Ohio State.

A night after hitting .340 in a straight sets win over No. 9 Penn State, the seventh-ranked Illini hit .390 in a four set 25-18, 24-26, 26-24, 25-17 victory over No. 22 Ohio State.

"I think the addition of Liz McMahon has been a big factor in that," Hambly said. "You saw this weekend why she was that highly of a recruit. If she gets a good ball and she's not going against someone who is 6-6 like she is, Liz can hit over the block or around the block."

The freshman from Liberty Township, Ohio, hit .455 with 12 kills and five blocks vs. Ohio State and .500 with 22 kills for the weekend. She also had a strong match against the Buckeyes the first time around in Columbus with 11 kills and a .588 attack percentage.

The victory coupled with a straight sets victory by No. 10 Purdue over No. 2 Nebraska keeps Illinois in a second-place tie with the Boilermakers at 13-3 in the Big Ten, just one match behind the league-leading Cornhuskers. The Illini are now 24-3 overall.

In the wake of its only home loss of the season two weeks ago to No. 15 Minnesota, Illinois has been working on playing low error and that was especially evident on the weekend. The Illini had just 18 attack errors in seven sets with only six of those being unforced balls hit out of bounds.

"When we missed, we just barely missed," Hambly said. "That is a good sign for us. We want to recognize that if we don't have a play to score, that we concentrate on just keeping it in play. We did that in these two matches. We know to make a run in NCAA Tournament, we need to hit .280 or better against those great teams."

Illinois reduced its overall errors by one each set from four in the first to just one in the fourth all the while hitting .412 and .556 in the last two sets. The Illini also sided out at 83 percent in the fourth set.

In addition to McMahon, senior Colleen Ward hit .426 with 13 kills and eight digs while Michelle Bartsch had 13 kills and nine digs. The weekend was a testament to resurgent setter Annie Luhrsen (46 kills, 13 digs) who distributed the ball about as evenly as one can. The middle blockers Erin Johnson (.316 pct.) and Anna Dorn (.500) and seven and six kills, respectively. Dorn also had a big night at the net with 10 blocks assists, helping the Illini to a 12-5 advantage in blocks as a team.

"We've been working on our connection a lot this week in practice," Ward said. "Annie has been doing a really good job bringing that to the matches this weekend. She just saw where the block was open and set there."

Illinois needed every bit of offense against an Ohio State team that plays quickly and also hits for a high percentage. Norwegian Mari Hole led the Buckeyes with 19 kills while Mariah Booth (14 kills) and Emily Danks (13 kills) hit .583 and .480, respectively, in helping OSU hit .287 as a team.

Illinois used a 12-4 midway through the first set take the lead on the Buckeyes. The Illini broke up open an 8-8 tie to go up 20-12. Ward had three straight kills in the rally, which ended on a big swing for a kill by Luhrsen. The Illini hit .320 for the set and Ward had two of the team's four aces in the frame.

The second set was close all the way with 15 ties and three lead changes. Ohio State was a little more offensive, hitting .324 with 18 kills in 37 swings. The Illini, who had sided out at a 77 percent clip, did so at just a 65 percent rate in the second set. Illinois continued its ace assault with one each from Jackie Wolfe and Jennifer Beltran in the set. Danks and Hole had the final two points for Ohio State after the Illini tied the score at 24.

Illinois seemed in control in the third set, leading 23-18. However, behind the service arm of Amanda Peterson, Ohio State rattled off six straight points to set up set point. But the Illini had a pair of kills by Bartsch and another from Johnson to eke out the win.

Illinois was never headed in the fourth set. Much as she did against Penn State, McMahon turned it up in the final set, hitting .833 with five kills in six swings.

Just four matches remain in the regular season - at Michigan State (Nov. 18) and No. 24 Michigan (Nov. 19) and home contests with Northwestern (Nov. 23) and Iowa (Nov. 26).